Earl Sweatshirt is coming out with a new album early next year. Out via Tan Cressida and Warner Records, Sick! follows 2019’s Feet of Clay EP and will debut on January 14.
The rapper was originally working on an LP called The People Could Fly but scrapped the project when the pandemic hit. Shifting gears, Sweatshirt recorded the ten tracks that make up Sick! while the world was under lockdown. The cover art for the upcoming album features a silver mold of the rapper wearing a face mask, along with a photograph, clove of garlic, and two pills.
Coinciding with the announcement, Sweatshirt gave fans a first look at the album with his new single "Tabula Rasa" featuring Armand Hammer. The song was produced by Theravada and Rob Chambers and delivered with a music video.
Sweatshirt recently released a statement about the new album:
Sick is my humble offering of 10 songs recorded in the wake of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns. Before the virus I had been working on an album I named after a book I used to read with my mother (The People Could Fly). Once the lockdowns hit, people couldn’t fly anymore. A wise man said art imitates life. People were sick. The People were angry and isolated and restless. I leaned into the chaos cause it was apparent that it wasn’t going anywhere. These songs are what happened when I would come up for air. Peace and love to Zelooperz the enigma, the Armand Hammer, and my good friends Alchemist and Black Noi$e. Peace and love to u.
Earl Sweatshirt’s Sick! is out on January 14. Listen to "Tabula Rasa" on streaming platforms now.